Chapter 1084: The Commandery Princess's Marriage

Niu Youdao had Yuan Gang ask Zhao Xiongge to consult the Demonic Sect about the Crow Generals. Unexpectedly, Zhao Xiongge himself already understood the matter. It was convenient, at least, and saved them trouble.

Perhaps it was not really such a coincidence. There was every possibility Zhao Xiongge knew. His connection with the Demonic Sect Saintess was hardly a secret, so it would not have been strange for her to tell him certain things.

The problem was that even the successive Sect Leaders of the Demonic Sect had never fully understood this secret art. That alone showed how tightly the successive Saintesses had guarded it. The secret was clearly of enormous importance. Yet a secret important enough to be withheld even from Sect Leaders had been told to Zhao Xiongge?

Something about that always felt wrong to Niu Youdao, though he could not say exactly what. After all, only Zhao Xiongge himself truly knew the details of his relationship with the Demonic Sect Saintess.

Even when Niu Youdao had first dealt with Zhao Xiongge, he had realized the man was certainly hiding something from him. This business with the Crow Generals only deepened that suspicion.

There was also Zhao Xiongge's present situation, and the Demonic Sect's. Amid all the turmoil of the cultivation world, something about both had always struck Niu Youdao as not quite right.

Still carrying those doubts, he crumpled the letter into a ball and rubbed it into dust.

After dusting off his hands, Niu Youdao took out the map again and located Wuliang Garden.

Wuliang Garden was marked on the map, but according to what he had learned, the place itself could not be seen on site. A protective great formation concealed it. Unless someone inside opened the entrance, a person could wander back and forth through the area without discovering it.

None of that was the real problem. Getting inside would not be difficult, and stealing something was not impossible either. So long as the guards inside were still human beings with the seven emotions and six desires, careful observation would eventually reveal some weakness that could be exploited.

The problem remained the Crow Generals.

Niu Youdao had fought a Crow General before. Based on that experience, the situation should indeed be as Zhao Xiongge had described in Yuan Gang's letter. The Crow Generals refined by Wu Chang were probably limited in strength and could be dealt with easily.

Which meant Wu Chang had not placed them there to fight intruders. Their purpose was to serve as the final watchdogs at the gate, constantly guarding against anyone with ill intent approaching the Wuliang Fruit tree and capable of raising the alarm at any moment.

If necessary, perhaps the Crow Generals could even destroy the Wuliang Fruit rather than let thieves obtain it.

Didn't the other eight Saints worry that Wu Chang might use the Crow Generals to steal the fruit himself?

Niu Youdao studied the map for a while, then shook his head inwardly. Given the Crow Generals' strength, they probably could not break through the protective formation and escape.

He had another question as well.

Since the Nine Saints had destroyed so many Wuliang Fruit trees, why had they left one behind?

The Nine Saints had already consumed Wuliang Fruit and remade their bodies. Wouldn't destroying the last tree have been simpler? Wouldn't that have completely severed the hopes of anyone harboring improper designs?

Why deliberately leave this single tree?

Even the Demon Fox race could not explain that mystery, so naturally Niu Youdao could not guess the reason either. He had never even seen what a Wuliang Fruit looked like. Thinking endlessly about it would accomplish nothing.

He shook his head and stopped dwelling on the clutter.

The largest problem remained how to deal with the final guards around the Wuliang Fruit tree.

Until he solved the Crow General problem, he did not dare act rashly, nor did he dare enter and leave Wuliang Garden casually. Once he went inside, the trip had to accomplish something. Going in and out repeatedly without drawing suspicion would be impossible.

After thinking it through, he decided to proceed along two lines at once: have Sha Rulai help from one side, while on the other he would establish contact with Ao Feng inside Wuliang Garden.

Niu Youdao put away the map, wrote a letter, left the room, and found Qu Lingkun to pass it along.

Qu Lingkun entered the lower courtyard and then left again.

Niu Youdao suddenly turned his head and stared at his departing back.

"This man can't be used anymore..." he muttered.

He did not mean silencing Qu Lingkun. He meant he could no longer keep using him to transmit messages.

Stand by the river long enough and sooner or later your shoes would get wet. If this continued indefinitely, someone would eventually notice something wrong.

Now that Niu Youdao and Sha Rulai had met face-to-face, he decided it would be safer to bypass the people in Wentian City and establish direct contact instead.

...

At Shouque Villa, Huang Ban and Xuan Yao arrived together in a hurry and entered to meet Ding Wei, who had reached the place ahead of them.

After greeting him, Huang Ban asked, "Mr. Ding, why did you summon us?"

Ding Wei sighed. "Something happened. There's been trouble at the All-Under-Heaven Money House."

Huang Ban and Xuan Yao exchanged startled looks.

Both asked, "What happened?"

Ding Wei said, "The inspectors sent to the All-Under-Heaven Money House discovered that Hong Yunfa, one of its three chief deacons, altered the accounts and falsified the books, embezzling an enormous amount of money. The initial estimate is over one hundred million gold coins. Someone inside the Money House was stealing from the very institution he was supposed to guard. The Sacred Venerables are furious!"

"Ah!" Both men were shocked.

Xuan Yao could not understand it. "Hong Yunfa doesn't lack cultivation resources. His stipend is more than enough for his needs. What would he want so much money for?"

Ding Wei said, "Human greed has no bottom. Misty Pavilion pays his stipend, but it doesn't issue him women. The first clues point to lust. He apparently kept quite a few beautiful women for his pleasure."

Huang Ban said, "But that's more than one hundred million gold coins. No matter how many women he kept, he couldn't possibly spend that much on them."

Ding Wei said, "That's exactly what worries me. I'm afraid the money wasn't spent only on women. We have no idea what else this may drag out."

Huang Ban hesitated. "If Hong Yunfa dared falsify the accounts, he must have been meticulous. How did the inspectors uncover it so quickly?"

Ding Wei suddenly ground out, "Who would have thought that a man who always looked so rigid and proper was actually a lecher?"

"Years ago, the bastard took a fancy to a beautiful female disciple of the Tiannü Sect. Relying on his position, he forcibly raped her, then murdered her to silence her and thought he had covered everything perfectly."

"What he didn't know was that the woman's master had begun watching him."

"For years, that master quietly kept track of him. Just among the women Hong Yunfa was keeping, the master identified more than twenty. The money spent on those women alone far exceeded his stipend."

"As it happened, people from the Tiannü Sect were assigned to the All-Under-Heaven Money House as inspectors. Following that thread, they immediately discovered something wrong."

"The Tiannü Sect inspectors then mobilized their sect's power and took control of all twenty-plus women Hong Yunfa had been keeping, preserving them as witnesses. Afterward, they submitted a report to the Sacred Venerables."

"The Sacred Venerables were enraged and ordered me to personally investigate. Not one person implicated in this case is to be spared!"

Xuan Yao clenched his teeth. "That damned bastard!"

Ding Wei said, "For the moment, the matter is still being kept secret. Hong Yunfa hasn't been alerted yet. I'll have to leave Sacred Realm for a while. I called you two here because I want you to keep watch on this side."

"Those sects have been causing enough trouble already. Nothing else can go wrong. Understood?"

"Understood." Huang Ban and Xuan Yao cupped their hands together.

But afterward Huang Ban added, "Mr. Ding, you've only just taken control of Misty Pavilion. You still have several years left in this term. If they're allowed to keep making trouble like this, I'm afraid they'll drag you into endless fire and water."

Ding Wei said, "Misty Pavilion is a tangle of forces from every side. Just wait and see. Once this matter breaks, many people will no longer be able to sit still. We won't need to do anything. Someone will naturally strike back."

He paused.

"But... this may be exactly what those above want to see. If no one sticks his head out, how are they supposed to sweep the place clean?"

...

"Qing'er, it's me. Open the door. Open up."

Holding a small child in her arms, Feng Ruonan repeatedly knocked on the door.

Shang Shuqing had seen her sister-in-law enter the courtyard, hurried back into the room, and shut the door first. Now she stood behind it with her back pressed against the wood, holding it closed.

She shook her head. "Sister-in-law, stop forcing me. I don't want to marry. I'm begging you, please leave me alone, all right?"

She was miserable these days.

Her elder brother and sister-in-law had begun worrying about her marriage, constantly finding possible matches for her and hoping one of them might catch her eye.

She truly did not want to meet anyone, but the family's constant persuasion had become so relentless that remaining unmarried was made to sound like some enormous sin. At times, even she nearly gave up on herself.

Sometimes she could not help thinking: Forget it. This must simply be my fate. I'll find some man and make do with him for the rest of my life.

Unable to refuse her family's repeated earnest requests, she had once gone to meet one of the men they selected.

But the instant the man saw her true face, the look in his eyes had genuinely wounded her.

It was as though he were thinking: I knew you were ugly, but I didn't realize you were this ugly.

And yet afterward, the man had become exceedingly warm and attentive, acting as though he sincerely wanted to be with her.

She simply could not accept it.

After that, she refused to meet any more of the men her family chose.

Prince Yong now had Zijin Cave behind him, had firmly secured Nanzhou, and wielded enormous influence throughout Yan. Once the princely residence let word spread that it was seeking a suitable husband for the Commandery Princess, who knew how many men in this chaotic age came after hearing the news.

Among Nanzhou's wealthy and powerful families, many would have gladly sharpened their heads to squeeze forward if it meant marrying one of their sons to Shang Shuqing.

Some of those men probably had no desire to marry a woman famous for being ugly. But faced with the mission imposed by their families, they had no choice but to claim willingness.

Everyone knew that whoever married Commandery Princess Shang would send his entire clan soaring into wealth and rank.

This time, Shang Shuqing had heard that her sister-in-law had organized a garden gathering. Most of the attendees were talented young men from various places.

How could Shang Shuqing fail to understand what that meant?

They intended to let her choose among them.

The moment her sister-in-law appeared, Shang Shuqing knew why she had come. She was certainly here to make Shang Shuqing attend the garden gathering.

That was why she had hidden.

"Qing'er, your sister-in-law understands how you feel. But many things aren't as difficult as you imagine," Feng Ruonan coaxed through the door.

"Back then, I didn't believe your brother could truly have taken a liking to me either. I was convinced he was only using the Feng family. But look at us now. Aren't your brother and I living well together?"

With her back still pressed to the door, Shang Shuqing shook her head. "Sister-in-law, have you forgotten how miserable you were back then?"

"If Master Dao hadn't mediated between you and Brother, would the two of you really have ended up well?"

"You had Master Dao to reconcile things between you. If I reach the same point you once did, will there be a second Master Dao to step forward and reconcile things for me?"

Feng Ruonan said, "With your present status, even without Master Dao there to mediate, your brother is still here. Whichever family we choose for you, who would dare make things difficult for you?"

Shang Shuqing said, "Sister-in-law, I truly don't want to marry anymore. I'm begging you. Please let me be."

Feng Ruonan was silent for a moment before saying, "Qing'er, we all know what's in your heart. But you have to understand something."

"Forget whether Master Dao can even come back. Even if he does, then what?"

"Qing'er, what kind of man is Master Dao? He turns his hand and makes clouds, overturns it and brings rain. His heart has seven exquisite apertures. How could he possibly not understand how you feel?"

"You've waited for him bitterly all these years. You've humbled yourself like a maid and combed his hair for him day after day. Have you ever seen even the slightest sign that his heart was moved?"

"Qing'er, a man like that sets his heart too high. He doesn't look upon people like us. We can't climb high enough to reach him either."

"Qing'er, be rational. Ask yourself honestly. Do you think Master Dao could ever be with you?"

"Even if you think there's the slightest possibility... is there?"

[End of Chapter 1084]